Salvation in Tribulation

Revelation 7:10
And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
There is in the great tribulation a major theme of salvation. Perhaps more souls will be saved in the time of the Tribulation than any other. Those who suffer and are saved are marked by the Lord and comforted in eternity. It is of those who are saved in great tribulation that the Bible says, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

We are so given to protect ourselves, to ensure that we never
• Hunger
• Thirst or
• Go exposed to the heatGod blesses and builds and comforts those who experience all of that.

I am so afraid of the religion today that stresses all about success, the
• Biggest
• Best
• Fastest and
• Friendliest

Do we even have a clue who the God of the Bible is?

May the Lord bless us with the strength to go through our own tribulations knowing that God will give us grace.

In This Be Content

Leviticus 10:20
And when Moses heard that, he was content.

Whether Aaron's explanation was of the Lord or not I am not sure.

I can see this as being humanly stressful to everyone. Two of Aaron's sons had died for offering the strange fire and Moses was commanded to have the survivors make an unusual response. They were not to uncover their heads or rend their clothes. They were not to express grief (though the rest of the congregation could.)

Moses here expresses displeasure with Aaron and Aaron returns with the reason for his actions. Moses became calm after that.

Sometimes our place is not to change a person but to express to them a wrong. Aaron may still have been in error. I think he was. But Moses had done what was his to do. From there he could be content.

I may not always get the response I would like from my ministry but being faithful in my ministry I may be content

Vials Full

Revelation 5:8
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Every one of them had vials full of odors which are the prayers of saints.

The timing of this is after the rapture and during the Tribulation.

The 24 are symbolic
I think, of all the believers. And they have the prayers of the saints as they worship God.

Prayer is a sweet savour.

They had everyone vials.
All of us should pray.

They had full vials.
Pray without ceasing.

They worshiped God with this prayer.
Could it be that God saves up our prayers and gives them back to us in eternity to represent our devotion to him in this life?

This Fire Always Burns

Leviticus 6:13
The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

There is a positive and negative aspect to the verse.
First the fire shall ever be burning.
This fire was first set from heaven and then the priests were to see that this fire always had fuel, was always in the ready, was ever the heat and the source of the atonement of sin.

Secondly the fire could never go out.
• Regardless of times or seasons
• Regardless of the condition of Israel
• Regardless if they were on the move or had rested for a very long time
This fire was never to be extinguished.

The fire is a symbol and type of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which, for the sake of the believer is always burning. Our sins are completely atoned and when we sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. For the sake of the lost the fire never goes out. Christ never stops seeking sinners. There is always an opportunity for another to be born again.

Laodicea

Revelation 3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Jesus loves Laodicea. What grace is there. Almost no good thing is said of this church.
• There is no commendation.
• There is no exception.
• There appears to be no reason for the Lord to address this church and every reason for Him to reject it.

Yet the Word says He counsels her and loves her.

We quickly dismiss persons and entities out of our life as useless to our walk and way. We throw away people who are more trouble than they are worth.

I thank God that is not the case with Jesus Christ and me!

Sweet Savour

Leviticus 4:31
And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
Scofield calls the offerings in this chapter the "non sweet savor" offerings because they deal with sin.
• First the priest
• Then those of the rulers
• Then the common people
A sweet savor offering is one that is given willingly and not as an atonement for sin. The other would be an offering given as atonement for sin and was compulsory.

Christ gave Himself willingly - that is a sweet savor. What He did for the souls of mankind is so kind, gracious and loving that we really can't begin to comprehend it. But when Christ gave Himself for our sins, even the Father turned His back as He bore that sin. It was not a sweet savor.

Now a miracle happens in verse 31; the non sweet savor becomes a sweet savor.
It was necessary that Christ die for our sins or we could never be saved. It was compulsory to Christ's doing the will of His Father. It was gruesome and vicious. Men reviled the Son of God. The mock trials, the scourgings, the hammer and nails, the vinegar and gall, the spear pierced into His side. Non of this is a sweet savor.
But in the midst of this horror the sweetest of all things took place.
• Christ prayed for the forgiveness of those who were slaying Him
• Christ cared for His mother by committing her to John and
• Christ promised the thief "this day thou shalt be with me in paradise."
And when Christ rose from the grave after three days: that was the proof that God saw His sacrifice as an offering of sweet savor.

Nothing is more a manifestation of God than His ability to take what men meant for evil and turn it for good. All of us have things happen that we wonder how this could ever have benefit and value. Our only recourse in those times is to simply trust the Lord. He will turn even that into an odor of sweet savor.

No Honey

Leviticus 2:11
No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.
The sacrificial meat offering was never to have leaven or honey but was always the have salt.

The purpose of sacrifice is to picture Jesus in whom is no sin, and therefore no leaven.

There was no mercy shown to Christ and therefore no honey.

Salt was of great value. It was used
• As a preservative
• As an enhancement of flavor and
• As a cleansing agent.Salt burns in the wounds. Even so Christ suffered without mercy or relief. When he thirsted He was given vinegar and gall, nothing to quench His need. His wounds were the worst kind and His sacrifice was the most valuable ever made.

• Its effect is to cleanse away our sin and preserve us forever and
• Its result is a sacrifice well pleasing unto God the Father.

Preserved

Jude 1:1
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Preserved....another verse on assurance. Perseverance of the saints should be the preservation of the saints. I have come to question whether we should press the subject of assurance. As one told me just this morning, "If God has not given them assurance they are saved, if the Holy Spirit does not witness with their spirit that they are the child of God, why should we presume to do it?" I am in complete agreement with that.

On the other hand, the Word of God is replete with passages teaching the doctrine of eternal security, or the preservation of the saint. The one who is truly born again is secure in that salvation. It can never be removed from him. He is "preserved in Jesus Christ."

Add this verse with others such as
John 10:28-29
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:12
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

And we get the definitive Bible doctrine of eternal security of the saint.

At Least One

3 John 1:3
For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

"I rejoiced greatly."

A tragic thing has happened in the church John writes to. Diotrophes has so usurped authority that he refuses to give even the apostle a place of ministry in the church (not to mention some other brethren as well.)

Still worse is that it appears the church has, for the most part, gone along. They have followed along with Diotrophes. They have lost their respect for those who have laid the foundation for their faith.

Scofield says this marks the end of the primitive church. Declension is now permanent. Never again will the church be seen in such simplicity.

While Scofield's perspective is Protestant and therefore fails to take into account the already existent Ana Baptist churches, I think I sense the pain that John must have endured. John did not ignore the difficulty and said he would confront it. Diotrophes would be rebuked.

But the key to this book is that John did not allow this end of an era to rob his joy. There was Gaius. And John rejoiced greatly in his testimony. There is always at least one for whom we can give thanks that he has stayed true to the truths he was originally taught.

A Personal Walk

2 John 1:6
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Scofield suggests that 2 John give the essentials of the personal walk with Christ. It appears to me that those essentials as found in the first six verses are:
• Walking in the truth, which is the Word of God.
• Walking in love which is given us of the Holy Spirit and
• Walking in His commandments which would be the two great commandments first of all.All of this would be predicated first of all upon a personal belief and faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

We'll Stay Here

Exodus 33:15-16
And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

Moses asked for God's presence and then asked if they did not have God's presence then to let them stay where they were. They were at Sinai.
• They were at that place they had stayed one year.
• They were at that place where God had given them His Word (God called it His testimony).
The best thing we can do when we do not know God will go with us is to stay put! God does move and God moves us. But if we do not have His presence going with us, it is best not to go at all.

Apologies for the lateness of these blogs. We have been out for a week of camping with several families of our church. While I walked with the Lord each day, I was not able to record them here until tonight.

Patience

Psalms 37:7
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Andrew Murray says that impatience is not really an impatience with ourselves or with others but that all impatience is really an impatience with God. Impatience reveals that we do not truly trust the Lord.

Patient waiting on the Lord is a key to rest and inheritance in the Land God has for us. Patience is resting in God. Patience is trusting that God is all powerful, alive and at work in our world. We fail to see the importance of Philippians for, "be careful for nothing" but it can be true of us if and only if we trust the Lord and wait patiently on Him.

At The Door

Exodus 29:42
This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.
Stand at the door where God meets with you to speak to you.

I see first of all that Christ is that door where God meets with us to speak with us. If it were not for the work of Christ we would have no access to the Father. Through Christ we have
• A way,
• A mediator
• Reconciliation and
• A door.
No man cometh unto the Father but by Him.

We Have An Advocate

1 John 2:1
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

We have an advocate with the Father.

• I am to study the Word of God for he says these are written that I sin not. But if I sin still, I have an advocate.
• I am to walk in the light as He is in the light, but if I fail, I have an advocate.
• I am to confess my sins and when I do He is faithful and just to forgive my sins. But when I do not confess a sin, I have an advocate.
• I am to keep His commandments but whe I don't keep His commandments, I have an advocate.

And not just any advocate but Jesus Christ the righteous..

God Is Light

1 John 1:5
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
There are five "ifs" in this text, one for each verse and all predicated on verse 5. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Because of that

First, if we say we have fellowship with God but walk in darkness we lie.
It appears that the sin is not the darkness as much as saying we have fellowship with God while we are walking in darkness.

Second, if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another.
The condition is "as He is in the light" and the reward is fellowship. I take it from the context that is with God.

Third, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
Saying we have no sin is walking in darkness. It is ignoring the truth about ourselves. Walking in light is being honest with ourselves.

Fourth, if we confess our sins He is faithful and just.
Honesty before our own selves AND before the Lord.

Fifth, if we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar.
We have progressed to the point that we are imputing the darkness to God. The word is not in us because the Word plainly tells us we have sinned

The Smallest Sin

Exodus 23:11
But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

Hindsight gives this passage meaning extraordinaire because we know that breaking this simple and seemingly trivial commandment caused Israel to spend 70 years in Babylon.

See God's compassion:
• For the land, to give it rest.
• For the poor to provide their needs and
• For the plant life that it is well nourished.

Failure to take into account the great compassion of God may be one of our most oft committed and most offensive of sins. May God help us to see it so and reach out in compassion for souls and in care for His creation.

He Knows

2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.

What confidence we may have in these words:
First, the Lord knoweth.Just knowing that He knows is of great assurance in difficult times. To know that God knows comforts and encourages.

Second the Lord knows how to.
You name it, the Lord knows how to perfrom it. There is nothing too hard for God.

Third the Lord knows how to deliver.
Count this as salvation. He knows how to save anybody in any stage of life.

Fourth, the Lord knows how to deliver the saved out of temptations.That besetting sin or that constant oppressor is know match for the Lord.

Finally the Lord knows how to deal with the unjust.
We need not fret over fairness. God will deal.

To Meet With God

Exodus 19:17
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

What an awful picture of the services in the Lord's house.

The meeting was called of God but implemented by Moses.

The people left the camp; their homes and neighborhoods to gather in a place appointed by God

The people assembled in this place with one purpose: to meet with God.

Before the day was through God had given them the Ten Commandments, the most powerful document in the history of mankind.

Heavy Hands

Exodus 17:12
But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

There are a few things about this passage that are striking to me this morning.

First, the attack of Amalek takes place very early on the Jewish journey.
Egypt is hardly cold in the sea before Amalek hits. Very often those that attack the faith do it early on.

Second, Israel had just finished chiding Moses and tempting God about the lack of water.
The grace of God that he would fight for them here is wonderful. How often we have tempted God ourselves and He has fought for us despite it.

Third, Moses' hands got heavy.
God so worked that the lives of Israel depended upon the very man Israel had just chided.
But Moses was only a man. As much as he may have longed to save the people, and as simple as his part was - just lifting up his hands, he was weak to do it alone.

An Habitation for Him

Exodus 15:2
The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

Here is Moses and six million Jews. They have just escaped Egypt. They have just witnessed God's destruction of the Egyptian army and they are facing a wilderness. It is possible that they spoke of the day they would reach their Promised Land but it is certain that God did not need them nearly as much as they needed God.

So preparing an habitation for God was not for the sake of God - it was for their own sake. They needed that their God would dwell among them.

This is not speaking of the Tabernacle because Moses did not receive the commandment to construct it for some time.

The is not speaking of any sort of structure because Israel was about to wander through the wilderness.

I doubt that it spoke of a Temple in the Promised Land because that wasn't built for four hundred years after this.

I believe it speaks of a habitation of the heart. We need God. And we need Him near by. Even having Him constantly at the church house is not sufficient. We can't be there every moment of every day. And we need God that much. We need God so desperately that we need Him with us at all times. There is only one way to ensure that: we have to prepare Him an habitation within us.

Lord, make it so.

Troubled

Exodus 14:24
And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,

The pillar of fire and of cloud troubled the host of the Egyptians.

Here is a plain example of what happens to those whose hearts are hardened to the things of God.

The hand of God had been heavy upon Egypt as long as Moses had been there. Plague after plague had hit the land, leaving Israel unscathed. Still Egypt hardened their hearts. Over and again they were warned. Over and again they were given opportunity to make things right.

Once chasing Israel they were separated by the pillar but did not see in this hindrance their opportunity to repent.

Into the Red Sea they drive, blindly pursuing Israel to their own hurt. There, in the midst of the sea, as God this last time troubles them they come to cry out that God fought for Israel. Would to God they had learned that generations earlier! But now it was too late. Now it cost the live of them all.

But though the text does not declare it the Word as a whole tells us that even this is not the end if the story. This was only the death of the body. And as violent as it was, it does not compare to the fact that there souls are in hell today awaiting the Great White Throne and the Lake of Fire.

God open the eyes of those so many souls who press themselves into hell roughly ignoring every warning and measure of Your grace on their behalf. Cause them to see and grant them true conversion.

Day and Night

Exodus 12:22
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

He took not away the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

The children of Israel were in such a way! They had just been thrust out of Egypt (yet God had given them favor among the Egyptians). They are now vagabonds, wandering through a wilderness carrying with them the 430 year old bones of the one who had opened their way into Egypt. All they have are those things they had borrowed from their oppressors. The Bible says they went "harnessed" from Egypt.

But God was with them. God was with them in a manifest way and God was with them in a continual way. Later Moses would beg God not to sent him any further except that God go with them. And he would know. That Pillar made it clear as to God's presence.

How we need a day and night presence of God in our lives.

In Christ

1 Peter 1:21
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

We come to believe in God through Jesus Christ.

In Christ we see God for He is the express image of God. Any vision of God that is not consistent with Jesus Christ is an image of a false God. Christ is God so that we may know Him. The world's religions, even Judaism cast a god in their minds that is not true. Christ alone gives us a true image of God.

In Christ we have access to God. To attempt to reach God by any other means is to attempt to breach the walls of glory and is an offense to God much more than not reaching Him, that means rejects Him that much further.

It is in the resurrection of and then the glorifying of Christ we receive faith and hope in God. Look well to these events. Study them carefully. They are true faith and hope.

Miseries We May Not See

James 5:1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Speaks of the miseries of the rich.

We sometimes think some people have it all and we have nothing but heartache.

What we often do not see is those who have the things we wished we had, most often also have miseries we never imagined.

Teach us Lord to be content with such things as you allow us to have in our lives.

Two For One

James 4:7-9
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you.

This is a "two for one" truth.
With each step we take toward God He takes a step toward us. As we draw nigh to God through submission to Him and through the cleansing of our hands (changing our activities) and purifying our hearts (renewing our thoughts and affections) we are in turn resisting the devil.

The way therefore to both draw nigh to God and to resist the devil (after we have been born again) is to purposely put our hands to good work and put in our minds on the right things.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Believing Unbelief

Exodus 4:31
And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

The people
• heard Aaron's words
• saw Moses' miracles
• believed and
• worshipped

But I have read a little farther ahead in the story. It is a weak and shallow faith that does not sustain them well. Just one chapter later, when the way gets tougher, not better the officers of the children of Israel say to Moses and Aaron
Exodus 5:21
.... The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

God will put them through a series of tests that harden their faith, revealing that many of them did not believe even when they reached Kadesh Barnea.
Hebrews 3:18-19
And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

It becomes us then to examine our own faith.
• Are we merely excited about exciting things or are we believers in fact?
• Is our worship given to the true and the living God, or are we worshipping what we hope to receive from Him and not the very God Himself?
• Are we guilty of preaching a God of "good things" instead of a God who is good despite the things around us?

In the process of time

Exodus 2:23-25
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
"In the process of time"
Things grew worseJoseph died, the Pharaoh's also died and were replaced Joseph was forgotten. The Pharaoh's became increasingly oppressive to the Jews. Why the Jews did not leave sometime around the death of Joseph, I do not know. Perhaps they had grown comfortable where they were. But comfort, especially when it is outside of the place God has for you, is seldom long lasting.

Israel criedCrying is never our first choice but it is often the only way we will grow in our walk with the Lord. If our cries come up to God then thank God for those tears.

God remembered and had respect.Waiting on the Lord is never a fruitless work. While the whole of waiting implies that God's answers do not come in our time, God does have a perfect will and is at work among us.

"In the process of time"God will hear
God will remember
God will have respect and
God will answer

The Troop Shall Overcome

Genesis 49:1-2
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
Genesis 49:19
Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

When Leah gave birth to this baby she exclaimed " A troop cometh" and called his name Gad. The name means "troop" or "crowd" and this prophecy become a play on that name. Mom meant the name as and expression of her praise to God for giving her this boy. Dad now sees the name as a portrait of the history and ultimate outcome of the tribe of peoples who will come from him.

Gad becomes a figure of what was and will be true of all of Israel and is also true of the saints of God today. Truly the people of God, whether Jews or Christians, have found themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in this world: and as such we have also been called to be soldiers for the cause of the Lord. As with any battle hardened people we experience both tides of conquering and being conquered. History has shown that to be the case with true believers. They have experienced success in reaching souls but they have also experienced terrible oppression and persecution. There have been times when those who have followed Christ were driven back so deeply that they are barely visible in the pages of history, but they have risen again to accomplish great things in the name of the Lord.

Jacob's prophecy is that the "troop" will overcome at the last. God's Word gives us the promise of ultimate victory over our enemies; the world, the flesh and the devil.

The Old Man's Still Got It

Genesis 48:14 KJV
And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

I came today to call this portion of Jacob's life, "The Old Man's Still Got It."

Though Jacob was an old man and Joseph was the second in command in Egypt, under Pharaoh, when Jacob enters the land the key figure is not Joseph or even Pharaoh. The key figure is Jacob. Consider;

Jacob blesses PharaohGenesis 47:10

Hebrews 7:7 says
And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

So we can't argue this. It is the Word of God, the less is always blessed of the better. The better between Pharaoh and Jacob is Jacob.

Jacob claims Joseph's two sons as his own
Genesis 48:5

Jacob gave him leave to keep any children that came after the first two, but they were Jacob's. Their heritage would lay with the heritage of Jacob's sons and not of Joseph.

I see in this and the next point the importance of the extended family. We don't develop that enough in our country's culture. We need to get back to families remaining close and to the grandfather having influence not just gift giving privileges.

Jacob guided his own hands "wittingly," giving the greater blessing to the youngerGenesis 48:14

Jacob knew exactly what he was doing. He was old, he was blind and he was displaced from the land God had given him but he was still the patriarch of the family. Joseph was second in command under Pharaoh, but Pharaoh came in somewhere under Jacob.

• Joseph orchestrated things so the older would receive the better blessing
• Joseph was displeased with the placing of Jacob's hands and said so but
• Jacob was still the man of God at that hour and would not be deterred from what he believed to be the will of God.
Sure enough, he was an old man, but he still had it!

This One Cannot Be Moved

Hebrews 12:28 KJV
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

A kingdom which cannot be moved.... One that is not shaken. One that is not corrupted by the sin of men. One that has no violence either because of criminal elements of because of God's discipline.

God has shaken this earth many a times.
• He shook the Mount Sinai
• He shook the Philippian jail
• He shook the place where the saints prayed
• He has shaken some things to let His people go
• He has shaken some things to dispatch the ungodly of their lives
• He has shaken other things to confirm His answer to His children

But there is coming a day when no shaking will be necessary.
• There will be no need to judge the lost for there will be no lost to to judge.
• There will be no need to confirm the presence of God in the saints for they will be in His eternal presence.
• What a kingdom we have received.
• What a hope we have inherited.
• What a God we serve.